Re: Help with amp controls...

: I was lucky enough to pick up an Ampeg B3 head and Kustom 2x15 cabinet last week, but the head had no manual and I'm puzzled as to what some of the buttons mean. It has a -15 db pad button on the front and 20db/0db and post/pre eq buttons on the back next to the balanced line out. Can anyone give me an idea of how to use these? By the way, this man rules.

The -15 db pad is for the input. Generally, these are used for "active"(battery inside) basses, that is, ones producing a hotter signal than most passive basses (ones without a battery). It lets the input stay clean and undistorted when a bass sends a very "hot " (strong) signal, such as using an 18v pre might.It is the same as have an active and a passive jack on the front...except they use the same jack. the 20 db pad on the back is for the line out...if it is actually a +20, like you said, then what it does is send a stronger signal out of the jack, for going to another head or house mixer or whatever. If, as I've seen more commonly, it is a -20, it does the opposite...turns down the signal coming out, in case th esignal is too hot(strong). The pre/post eq switch selects whether the signal gets run throught the eq on the head before going out of the jack. Pre means that the signal comes straight out of the preamp&buffer stages, and goes straight out...good for using a di box to be mixed and shaped at front of house by a good engineer...almost like plugging direct into the di first. post means it(signal) comes out after it has been shaped by the eq...good if you are recording, and want the tone as you've shaped it, or if you use very extreme eq settings that are hard to duplicate at front of house. hope that covers the bases for you...any more questions, I'll be right here...Questions, Comments, Insults?Deman@Whatthefuck.comDeman